It is the usual story of forbidden love between two people from rival clans. But there is another twist to this version of Romeo and Juliet in the Palestinian Territories: Romeo being a Muslim and Juliet a Christian Palestinian. Local Christian communities fear intermarriage will eventually bring an end to the Christian identity in the West Bank.

The Palestinian Territories are witnessing an increase in the number of mixed marriages between Christian women and Muslim men. Christians, who make up around 1 to 1.5 percent of the total Palestinian population reject these relationships and consider them shameful.

Taboo
Father Nicolas is the local priest of the Christian Orthodox church in the town of Beit Jala. He says the church considers it a social issue, rather than a religious one and clergy only intervene when asked to. Yet the Orthodox Church excommunicates all local Christian women who marry Muslims even if they do not become Muslimas.

Father Nicholas recently tried to convince a young student who fell in love with a Muslim, to break off all contact with her boyfriend. After the woman ran away, her family forced her to come back. Father Nicolas spent hours ministering to her. He warned her that her marriage to a Muslim could easily end in divorce, and the Christian church does not approve of divorce. After a few weeks, the woman ran away for a second time.

Lack of Exposure
Palestinian social worker Arwa Wahbeh is not surprised by the increase in the number of rejected inter-religious relationships. She says that most girls who run away to marry Muslims come from well-off families. They are raised with little or no exposure to the majority Muslim community. Most Christian families send their children to Christian-sponsored missionary schools, where they only mix with other Christians.

Christians do not tolerate intermarriage with Muslims. The local church prohibits marriage with other religions unless the partner becomes Christian. For Muslim men life is easier: they are allowed to marry Jewish or Christian women, but a Muslim woman cannot marry outside her religion.

Congregation
Father Nicolas has worked with his congregation for more than 20 years. He points out that the number of mixed marriages has been consistently low. Relations with Muslims are good, he adds. But in her daily work as a social worker, Ms Wahbeh has seen the phenomenon grow, while the authorities try to ignore it:

"Local community leaders and ministries ignore the issue and are not interested in studying it or recognising the problem and dealing with it. Everyone wants to give a positive view of the diverse social fabric of Palestinian society"

As there is no civil marriage registry, the inter-religious marriages are not registered. As a result the partners are often confronted with confusing legal situations, as legislation differs for Muslims and Christians.

The small Christian community on the West Bank fears that marriage with Muslims will gravely threaten the existence of Christians in the Holy Land. The offspring of the marriage tend to enter the father’s religion and not the mother’s.

Most Christian families eventually accept their daughter’s choice and gradually accept tentative contact. Centuries of co-existence between Muslims and Christians in the Palestinian territories have yet to allow for mixed marriages. It will take a long time before people will accept this as normal.